The offense was on display, Wednesday afternoon, as the Lee University Flames and Lindsey Wilson College Blue Raiders combined for 33 hits in a 10-8 Lee victory at Olympic Field. Roberto Reyes was the big swinger for the Flames, drilling four hits and earning three runs batted in.

The Blue Raiders (4-4) opened up the scoring quickly, knocking in two runs in the top of the first on a double by Adam Peacock. The Flames countered with one in the first, two in the third, and appeared to break things open with five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.

The visiting squad showed plenty of fight, however, pushing four runs across in the seventh, after each team tallied a single run in the sixth, running the score to 9-7. The team’s traded runs in the eighth, and the Flames shut the door in the ninth, securing the 10-8 win.

“We are fortunate to pull this one out,” said Lee head coach Mark Brew. “We made a host of baserunning and mental mistakes that cost us some runs that could have put the game away.

“However, with all those mistakes I was really proud of how we battled through the adversity. Lindsey Wilson has a very good club and they did an excellent job bouncing back in the game.”

Jose Samayoa (2-0) started and worked six innings for the Flames, allowing three runs on six hits to earn the win. Three Lee relievers worked the four-run seventh, before Andy Hillis came on to relieve Joe Fabre in the eighth, surrendering two hits and striking out one to earn his third save.

Close behind Reyes’ four-hit performance were senior Mike Moore and junior Corey Davis. Moore was 3-for-5 with four RBI, while Davis also registered a trio of hits, including a double, scoring three times. Edmanuel Rivera, Blake Barber, and Trevor Burgess each added a pair of hits.

“We swung the bats the best we have all year and that is something we have been missing,” added the Lee skipper. “That five-run fifth was a huge inning because it all occurred with no one on and two outs.”

For Lindsey Wilson, Darren Travers (0-1) started and worked four innings, giving up eight runs to receive the pitching loss. Peacock led the way with three hits in four trips to the plate, also earning a walk and scoring a run.

Lee showed solid defense in Wednesday’s win, committing no errors, compared to three field mistakes for the Blue Raiders. The Flames stranded 11 runners, while the visiting club left 13 runners on base.

The No.3-ranked Flames (13-2) will now prepare for a weekend trip to SSAC West division foe, University of Mobile. It will be the Flames’ second conference series of the season, standing at 3-0 with a sweep of Emmanuel College last weekend.

“We will have to clean up some of those mistakes as we turn our focus to another big road weekend at Mobile. They will be another early test for us and we will need to pitch better and continue our hitting through the weekend,” concluded Brew.